Explosion-engine.



E. APPERSON EXPLOSION ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 3, 1906.

Patented Dec. 1; 1908.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

i I liimrg ben's anq E. APPERSON.

EXPLOSION ENGINE. APPLICATION FILED JULY 3, 1906.

905,625. Patented Dec. 1,1908.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

E. APPERSON.

EXPLOSION ENGINE.

APPLIGATION FILED JULY a, 1906.

Patented Dec. 1

a SHEETSSHEYBT a.

ELMER APPERSON, OF KOKOMO, INDIAN-A.

ExPLOSION-ENGINE..

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 1, 1908.

Application filed July 3, 1906. Serial No. 324,653.

I To all whom it may concern:

' of the type used-in automobiles, and has as an object the provision ofmeans for overcoming the necessity of removing the ignition plugs fromthe cylinders to clean the contacts carried thereon when they becomecovered with oil, soot, or other undesirable deposit.

It has heretofore been the ractice to supplythe cylinders of engines theabove type Withone ignition plug, and it has been necessary to removethis plug and wipe or scrape the contacts carried thereon in ord'eftoclean them. In my present invention I provide two such lugs entering theexplosion cavity of the cylinder at different points. I also provide twodistinct electric circuits-one connected with each of the plugs, andmeans for using the circuits and plugs separately so that the plugs maybe used alternately, whereby, when the ignition contacts upon one plugbecome coated with oil, so that the spark does not pass properly, theother plug may be thrown into use and the explosions occurring therefrommay be allowed to burn the, oil or other deposit from the contacts ofthe plug just abandoned.

In carrying out my invention, I preferably use electric circuits ofdifl'er'ent character as sociated with the diil'erent plugsthat is, whenused in connection with automobilesI prefer to connect one of the plugswith a bat tery circuit and the other with a magnetogenerator circuit. Ialso preferabl arrange these circuits so that they may bot be used atonce, as it may frequently occur in an engine comprising a plurality ofcylinders that one of the plugs of one cylinder ma become coated whilethe opposite plug 0 another cylinder may become coated, so that in orderthat all cylinders ma explode properly, it is necessary to use bot ofthe electric circuits at once.

My invention relates further to certain details of constructionhereinafter described and shown in the accompanying drawings forming apart of this specification, in. which Figure 1 is a cross-sectionthrough the cylinder of the engine, showing the arrangement of valvesand positions of the ignition plugs; Fig. 2, a diagrammatic sketch ofthe circuit arrangement when used with an engine comprising fourcylinders and twoelectric circuits. Fig. 3, an isometric drawing of themeans for simultaneously adjusting the timing devices.

In carrying out my im rovements, I provide a cylinder case 1, aving aninterior cavity 2, in which the usual piston 3 oscillates to drive therotary portion of the engine by means of the piston rod 4. This cylinderis provided with an intake opening 5 and an ex aust opening 6, theseopenings being normally closed at the valves 7 and 8 by the valve heads9 and 10.

I have a plied my im rovements to an:

therefore provide the rods 11 and 12, ex'-.

tending through the casings 13 and. 14 and terminating in threadedportions on which the spring seats 15 and 16 and the roller bearings 17and 18 are secured. Beneath the rollers carried upon these hearings arethe cams 29 and 30, rotated in any desirable way from the shaft of theengine to control the position of the valves.

Between the s ring seats and the frame of" the cylinder an around thevalve rods 11 and 12 are the coil springs 19 and 20, which are undersufficient normal compression to hold the valve heads 9 and 10 underproper pressure bearing'upon the valve seats at 7 and 8. Directly abovethese valves are nuts 21 and 22, threaded into the head of the cylinderand closing openings large enough to give free'access to the valvesbeneath them, or to allow the valves'to be entirely removed whennecessary for cleaning or repairing. Through the centers of these nuts21 and 22 the ignition plugs 23 and 24 are threaded, these plugscarrying the usual contacts 25 and 26, one of which. in each plug, .isgrounded to the frame of the cyliner and the other of which passesthrough the porcelain or other fire-proof insulator on the mside of theplug and terminates at the, top in the binding post 27 on one plug and28 on the other.

Referrin to Fig. 2, the four; cylinders, lettered a, c and d to indicatethe order in which the explosions occur, are diagrammat' ically shownwith the ignition plugs upon one side connected by conductors 31, 32',33

and 34 with the secondaries of the four simi- 1 tion of the arrow, so asto make contact withthe points a), b 0 and d in proper succession. Theouter shell 45, which carries the latter contacts, is adapted to beslightly rotated by means of the rod 46, in order to slightly adjust thetime of making the connection between the rotary and stationarycontacts. The other pole of the battery 37 is connected throughconductor 47 with the contact 48 of a three-point switch, having a lever49 carrying two prongs 50 and 51,

either of which may be thrown in contact with the point 48 or with thepoint 52, as will be hereinafter described. This lever 49 is connected,through conductor 53, with. the metallic portion of the engine, and alsowith the rotary contact of the timer 43. The ignition plugs upon theotherside of the engine cylinders are connected, throughconductors 54,55, 56 and 57, with the ring contacts 0. b 0 and d of a similar timer58, the rotar contact 59 of this timer being connected, throughconductor 60, with one pole of the magneto generator 61, while the otherpole is connected, through conductor 62, with the contact 52 of thepreviously mentioned switch. The ring timer 58 is likewise connectedwith rod 46, so that the two timers may be simultaneously adjusted bythe movement of said rod.

In the o eration of the system shown in Fig. 2, the ever 49 is firstthrown so that the prong 51 is in contact with point 48. The shaft ofthe engine is now turned and the rotary portion of the timer 44, whichis preferably geared from the engine shaft, is caused to first makeconnection with the contact (L This closes a circuit from the battery37, through conductor 38, primary of induction coil a, conductor. 39,contacts 44 and a of the timer 43, conductor 53,

and the then-closed contacts of the switch, and back to battery throughconductor 47. The current in the path just described, by passing throughthe rimary of induction coil a, induces a higli voltage at the terminalsof the secondary winding of said in duction coil, which is or suflicienttension to cause current to pass between the contacts of the ignitionplug' in the cylinder a, thus exploding this cylinder attire pro er timeto drive the piston down in the cy inder. As

the rotation of the shaft oithe engine 0011- ceases tinues, the shaftportion of the timer 43 continues in its rotation, making contact withpoints b 0 and d and exploding cylinders b, c and d at the properintervals.

The engine is now in operation and being 7o exploded by current frombattery 37, and the plugs uponthe battery side only of the cylinders arein use. II it is now desired to make use of the generator circuit andallow the battery circuit to stand idle, the lever 49 is thrown so thatits prong 50 is in contact with the point 52. This closes the circuitfrom the metallic portion of the engine through conductor 53, thethenclosed contacts 50 and 52 of the switch, conductor 64, the windingof the coil 63, conductor 62, generator 61, conductor 60,

to the rotary contact '59 of the timer 58.

This rotary contact, being likewise geared'to the shaft of the engineand rotated in the di- 35 rection'shown by the arrow, may now beconsidered as making contact with the pointafi, and thereby explodingthe cylinder (1 through conductor 54, and continuing, exploding cylinderb through conductor 55, cylinder 0 through conductor 56, and cylinder dthrough conductor 57. I

It is usual for the engine to be allowed to run upon the generatorcircuit, but if it so happens that one of the plugs-upon the gen 5erator side of the cylinder becomes oilcoated, the lever 49 may again bethrown into the position with prong 51 making contact with point 48,thus bringing the battery side of the cylinder again into action, and Tleaving the generator side idle. The explosions which continue in thecylinders soon burn the undesirable oil or other deposit from thecontacts upon the generator side, and the switch 49 may be throvnn back1 into its generator position. It may occasion ally occur, however, thatone or more of the contacts upon the generator side and one or more ofthe contacts upon the battery side become coated or othervsise disabled.In such case the lever arm 49 maybe throvm so that its prong 51 makescontact with the point 52 and prong 50 with the point 48. In thisposition the cylinders will be exploded from both circuits if both plugsin the cyl- Y inders-are in good condition; but if one of the plugs isout of condition, that cylinder will only be exploded from the plugwhich remains intact, while if another cylinder has its opposite plugout of condition it vsill be 1 f exploded from the plug connected withthe other circuit, thus almost entirely eliminatingthe liability of anycylinder becoming inoperative. i It is customary in automobile practiceto i place the timer from the generator circuit in a position under thecar, and thatfor the battery cincuit in another more fexposed position,and it becomes necessary to arrange link mechanism, as shown in Fig. 3,to simul- 7 cause the sparks of the two systems to taneously adjust therings of the timers to pass exactly at thesame time.

In Fig. 3 I have shown the generator case 65, in which is inclosed anysuitable generator and timer, the latter being adjusted by the movementof the portion 66 upon' the generator shaft 67 To rotate the timers atexactly the same rate, the engine shaft 68 is rovided with a gear 69meshing withan idler 70, which, in turn, meshes with the gear 71 uponthe shaft 67 of the generator, the timer within the generator case beingcarried upon the generator shaft, and with a sprocket wheel 72, which issecured upon the shaft 68, and drives the sprocket wheel 73 upon theshaft 74 of the battery timer, through the medium of the chain 75.

In order to provide ready means for adjusting the rings of the timers,the rod 76 is carried up through the steering post and terminates beforethe operator in a so-called spark lever 77. Upon the lower end of therod 76 is arranged a crank 78 with its extending end pivotally securedtothe end of the rod 79, which, in turn, communicates with the end of thelever 80 upon the auxiliary crank rod 81. In order to deliver equalmotion to the two timer rings placed in different positions, the similarcrank arms 82 and 83 are secured to the auxiliary crank shaft 81, andextend from such shaft in planes substantially at right angles one. tothe other the lever 82 being connected through rod 84 with the ring ofthe battery timer, while the I lever 83 is connected through the rod 85,the equal arm bell crank 86, and rod 87 to the'generator timerpreviously described. It will be seen from thlSo Te arrangement thatmovement of the spark lever 77 communicates equal movement to the ringsof the battery and generator timers, thus securing simultaneousadjustment.

' In the foregoing specification only such arts have been illustratedand described as 1t is deemed necessary or important for completelydisclosing my improvements in such manner that they may be practiced bythose skilled' in the art. It Wlll be understood, however, that while Ihave illustrated and described In improvements in connection with aspeci '0 form of engine, that I do not wish to so limit the sco of myinvention, many features of which are applicable to different types ofengine.

I claim:

1. An explosion engine havi a cylinder in which the explosive is adapteto ignite, a pair of spark plugs extending into the cylin- 'der, amagneto, electrical connections from the magnetoto one of the sparkplugs, a battery, separate electrical connections from the battery tothe second spark switch for throwing the spark p out of operation.

2. An explosion engine having a cylinder in which the explosive isadapted to ignite, a pair of spark plugs extending into the cylinder,one of said spark plugs having a fixed spark gap, a magneto electricallyconnected with one of the spark plugs, a battery electrically connectedwith the other spark plug, a periodic circuit interrupter in theconnection to the spark plug having the ,fixed gap, and means to controlthe connections to the spark plugs.

3. An explosion engine having an explosion chamber withtwo spark plu stherein, a magneto electrically connecte with one spark plug, a batteryelectrically connected with the other spark plug, adjustable timers1plug, and a ugs, into and vin the respective circuits, and means foradjusting the timers similarly and simultaneously.

4. An explosion engine havin a cylinder in which the explosive is adapteto ignite, a pair of permanent s ark gaps within said cylinder, amagneto e ectrically connected to the terminals of one spark gap, abattery electrically connected to the terminals of the other spark gap,and circuit interrupting devices 111 each of said connections.

5 An explosion engine having a cylinder in which the explosive isadapted to'ignite, a pair of spark plugs extending into the'cylin der, amagneto 1n circuit with one of said spark plugs, an induction coilhaving its secondary in circuit with the other spark plug, and'a batteryin circuit with the primary of said induction coil.

ELMER APPERSON. Witnesses: t ANNA L. SAvOIE,

W. T. JoNEs.

